Member Avatar for venky2ece

Hi all,

This is venkatesh, i have problem with usb drives . I need a way to access data card but not usb drives through usb port. I need to do this very urgently.
The one way is when u disable usb ports my data card also not works. what can i do in this situation.

Any one plz help me, Thanks in advance

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by 07knev

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Short summary for : on XP SP3 you can either make USB mass‑storage read‑only (easy, least disruptive), block the USB‑storage driver entirely (stronger but can break some dongles), or whitelist specific dongles (best for managed environments). Each approach has tradeoffs shown below; test on one machine and back up the registry before changing anything.

Make USB drives read‑only (prevents write, keeps dongle working)
Create the StorageDevicePolicies key and set WriteProtect = 1, then reboot. This blocks writes to USB flash drives but still lets most USB modems connect for networking:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]
"WriteProtect"=dword:00000001

This is the safest first step for your goal. (learn.microsoft.com)

Block USB mass storage completely (breaks storage devices)
To prevent any USB mass‑storage device from working, set the UsbStor service Start value to 4 (requires admin and reboot):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Important: many mobile broadband dongles present themselves first as a “virtual CD” (mass‑storage) so completely disabling UsbStor can stop the dongle from installing or switching to modem mode. If you try this, pre‑install the dongle drivers or use the allow/whitelist option below. (support.microsoft.com)

Whitelist a specific dongle (per‑device allow)
On managed machines use Device‑Installation restrictions or preinstall drivers, then block everything else. For scripted control on a single PC you can use Microsoft’s DevCon to disable the mass‑storage class and enable a specific VID/PID:

devcon find usb*
devcon disable USB\Class_08
devcon enable *VID_1234&PID_5678*

(DevCon is part of the WDK; Device‑Installation Group Policy lets you allow/deny by hardware ID on domain/pro editions.) If you run XP Home, gpedit.msc isn’t available so use the registry or scripts instead. Always export registry keys and test with your specific Tata/Reliance dongle before rolling changes wide. (ss64.com)

Troubleshooting tips: disable AutoPlay/Autorun (XP has updates for this), reboot after changes, check Device Manager for hardware IDs, and if a dongle fails after blocking storage try installing the vendor dialer manually on the PC so the modem interface is present even when mass storage is blocked.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for rubberman

There is no real difference between USB drives and USB data cards, which typically are presented to the operating system as drives as well (solid state). What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish?

Member Avatar for venky2ece

I just want to disable the read and write access for usb drives and when connect the data card(usb modem eg reliance, tata photon) I want to use the functionality i.e connecting internet

Member Avatar for rubberman

What operating system are you using?

Member Avatar for 07knev

when you connect the device is this is getting recognize by the OS?

Member Avatar for venky2ece

Iam using xp sp3, data card must be recognized is the condition but not the pen drive

Member Avatar for 07knev

In my firm, we use symantec antivirus software and all the USB ports are blocked.
this is done for preventing data transfer.
IF the users want to use any data card or pendrive, they need to approved from there manager and request sent to Support team.
The support team will record the serial address on the symantec server to allow this device to recognise.

Hope this helps you in some ideas

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